Looking Over Your Shoulder

CHAPTER 15

  MEGGIE STARED OUT THE window, watching the birds on the line, flying at each other in some sort of bird game of tag. She wondered what birds thought about, and if they worried about things. Did they just play all day when they weren’t catching worms? Or did they have families with troubles too? Meggie thought about her dad digging a big hole in the back yard, and playing the hiding game, and driving fast because there was a car following them from the school. Meggie knew that she was supposed to do what her Daddy told her, and that they weren’t supposed to make him upset about things. But he was upset a lot lately, and she couldn’t figure out what she was supposed to do about it.

  “Meggie VanRaemdonck!”

  Meggie jumped, and looked up at her teacher, startled abruptly out of her reverie.

  “Yes?” she questioned nervously.

  “You need to stop daydreaming and focus on the lesson,” Miss Fitch told her sternly. "Did you hear anything that I said?”

  Meggie stared down at the scratches on the top of her desk.

  “No,” she said in shame.

  “Please pay attention. Focus on what we are doing.”

  “I’m sorry,” Meggie’s lip quivered.

  Miss Fitch smiled at her reassuringly.

  “It’s okay,” she said, touching Meggie’s shoulder. "Just try, okay?”

  Meggie sniffled and nodded. She wondered if Miss Fitch knew about her dad and how hard it was to focus on school with everything else going on at home.

  Eleena knew as soon as she looked at Ursula that things were worse. Although she was still as together and professional looking as ever, there was just something about her that gave away the fact that she wasn’t sleeping. She was obviously worried, more than Eleena could ever remember. When Ursula explained about the latest developments, Eleena shook her head in disbelief.

  “Really, Urs. You can’t let him stay there. I mean - a bunker in the back yard? The man’s gone off his rocker!”

  “I don’t know what to do any more,” Ursula meditated. "I want to help him. But I just don’t know what to do any more. I can’t kick him out – where would he go? Abe can’t take care of himself. He needs someone looking after him.”

  “Abe’s a grown man, Ursula. Not a child.”

  “Oh, I know that. If he was one of the kids, I could at least put him to bed. It’s a lot harder to look after a grown man than after a child.”

  “You can’t be expected to be his parent too. You can’t control him. And what about when he does something to endanger the children? It’s bad enough that he’s scaring them talking about all of his paranoiac nightmares.”

  “He wouldn’t do anything to harm the children. And they understand that he’s sick, that his “paranoiac nightmares” aren’t real. It doesn’t do any harm to them to hear them, they know they’re not true.”

  “Really?” Eleena said skeptically. "You’re telling me that when Abe tells Meggie about his fears, that she doesn’t believe them? How could she not?”

  Ursula’s face was set.

  “Meggie’s a very mature girl. She knows…”

  “I’m telling you, Urs. Something is going to happen, and you’re going to regret it. Get him out before it happens. Get him out while you still have a choice.”

  “Eleena, I can’t. I just can’t do that to him.”

  “If he can’t take care of himself, then get him committed somewhere. You just can’t let this go on. It’s too dangerous.”

  Ursula shook her head.

  “I just… I’m so lost. There’s just no right answer. There’s no… no-one understands what it is like. I can’t just kick him out.”

  “This is the kind of case that you hear on the news,” Eleena warned. "Where everyone says ‘He was such a nice guy, I don’t understand how he could have killed his entire family while they slept.’ Where everyone says that somebody should have done something, before it got that far.”

  “He’s not going to hurt me or the children. He would never do that.”

  But she went home with Eleena’s warning ringing in her ears.

  Abe was just such a nice guy.

  Abe was getting the kids to help him out by moving the smaller rocks out of the way, and into a pile in the corner of the yard. There had been complaints, but they were all pretty good about helping out. Even Juneau, who Abe had offered to let sit out, because she didn’t have much strength since she wasn’t eating. She shook her head and said she could at least pick up rocks as big as Meggie could. They were all hot and tired, and he was going to let them off in a few minutes, maybe they would make ice cream.

  A car drove by slowly in front of the house as Abe went to get bags of cement out of the car. He’d put them on the seats, because they were heavy and it was easier than trying to lift them all the way out of the trunk, bending over the lip of the trunk at an awkward angle. He followed the car with his eyes, recognizing it as one of the cars that he occasionally spotted following him. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he watched it. Then he saw an arm with a gun poke out the window, pointing directly at him. Abe yelled and dropped down behind the car, sheltering from the shot. There was a sound like a firecracker.

  “Dad?” it was Juneau’s voice. "Is everything okay?”

  “Stay where you are,” Abe shouted back. "Don’t expose yourself!”

  He tried to peek up through the window of the car to see if the black car was still there. It disappeared as it drove past the neighbor’s trees. Abe hesitated, crouching there, trying to figure out what to do next.

  “Dad?” Juneau said again, coming through the gate from the back yard. "What’s going on? Are you okay?”

  “Get down!”

  She looked surprised, but she crouched down, and studied him, looking uncertain.

  “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

  “Someone shot at me. They might come back.”

  “Someone shot at you?” she repeated.

  “Didn’t you hear the shot? That wasn’t my imagination.”

  “Maybe it was just a car backfire, it didn’t sound very loud.”

  “Get the little ones. Take them into the house.”

  She stared where she was for a few moments, and then duck-waddled back away from him, through the gate into the back yard. In a few minutes, Meggie ran out through the gate.

  “Daddy!”

  “No! Get down, Meggie!” Abe shouted.

  She stopped in shock, and burst into tears.

  “No, Meggie,” Abe murmured, and he crawled over to her. “Didn’t Juneau tell you to go into the house? It’s too dangerous here.”

  “No,” Meggie protested, clinging to him. "I want to be with you.”

  Crispin was hovering by the gate. Abe couldn’t tell where Juneau was.

  “Dad, can we come out?” Crispin questioned. "We don’t want to go into the house.”

  “Crispy, I want you guys to go inside, where it’s safe.”

  Crispin came around the gate, looking around with wide eyes.

  “What’s wrong, Dad?”

  Abe wrung his hands.

  “Guys, you have to get into the house,” he told them, trying to keep his voice calm. “Call 911. Play the hiding game.”

  “No,” Meggie protested, holding Abe tightly.

  “The house isn’t safe,” Crispin insisted. "You said so. We need to go somewhere safe.”

  Abe looked around. Juneau was peeking around the gate, and when she saw that he wasn’t immediately forcing the younger kids into the house or shouting, she timidly came through the gate as well.

  “I’m sorry,” she apologized. "I tried to get them to go inside, but they wouldn’t listen.”

  “It isn’t safe to be standing out here,” Abe said, sweat pouring off his face. “You have to go somewhere safe.”

  “You take us somewhere,” Meggie insisted. She motioned to the car. "You drive us.”

  Abe scanned the road, watching for the return of the black car.

  “I can’t
take you in the car,” he said. "I’ve got bags of cement on the seats. There isn’t space. But they might come back, you can’t be standing there. Get inside-”

  Then he spotted the black car again. He swore, horrified. Reaching into the car, he pulled the release lever to pop the trunk.

  “Get in,” he ordered. "Right now, get in!”

  There was confusion and tears, but he picked Meggie up and popped her inside, and grabbed Crispin to help him quickly in, and Juneau, looking at the others, followed suit.

  “There’s not space,” she protested.

  “Get in,” Abe ordered. It was a good thing that she was so skinny now. She somehow managed to fold herself into the tangle of bodies and limbs and Abe slammed the trunk lid shut, to renewed cries and protests.

  Ducking down behind the car, he watched the black car drive by again. No shots this time, but he was well out of sight. They drove by very slowly, and he was sure that they would be back again, looking for a better shot or prepared to break into the house to come after him. He jumped into the driver’s engine, turned the key in the ignition, and shifting swiftly, hit the gas and roared down the driveway and into the quiet street. He didn’t know where to go, expect that he had to get away. Get himself and his children away from the danger. No one had believed him, and now here they were, out in the open, trying to kill him. He couldn’t let anything happen to the kids. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to them.

  He pressed down the gas pedal, looking in the rear view mirror for the black car. If he could get out of there before they turned around or circled the block and realized that he was gone… There were kids playing on the street, and Abe had to hit the brakes abruptly to stop in time, the tires screeching, and bangs and noises coming from the trunk. He moved as quickly as he could around the children on the road as they moved out of his way, scowling at him for interrupting their game. Once past them, Abe once again pushed the pedal to the metal, shooting down the residential streets at a break-neck pace. He breathed a sigh of relief when he got to the highway without spotting the black car in the rear-view mirror.

  Abe drove down the highway, trying to decide where to go. To the police station? Call Ursula and find out where she was, so that he could make sure that she was safe as well? Was there somewhere else he could go that would be safe? Abe glanced in the mirror again and saw not the black car, but another of the cars that he had seen following him lately. A red hatchback. Swearing under his breath, Abe pushed down the gas, streaking by other cars, weaving his way in and out of traffic as he tried to lose the red car. He tried working his way through one of the cloverleafs as quickly as centrifugal force would allow, tires screeching, trying to keep the car under control. If he could lose them in the complicated exits and loops, he stood a chance. If he couldn’t…

  Every time he thought that he was safe, one of the two cars would be in his mirror again. The black sedan, the red hatchback, no matter how many turns he took or lights he ran trying to lose them. They had to be working in tandem, communicating with each other by radio or cell phone. And then he heard a siren, and looking in his mirror, saw the flashing lights gaining on him, even at the high speed he was traveling. He blew out his breath.

  “Thank you, city police,” he said gratefully.

  He gradually slowed down, waiting for them to catch up, watching to see where the black and red cars would go. In a few minutes, there were several police cars closing around him, lights flashing and sirens blaring. Abe pressed down the brake and pulled over to the side of the highway. The cars stopped around him, one in front, one behind, and one beside. Abe rolled down his window and waited for one of them to come to the door.

  “Am I ever glad you guys showed up,” he called out, as they opened their doors and stepped out of their cars.

  “Driver! Put your hands out the window!” a loud voice commanded.

  “Hey, it’s okay, guys,” Abe said. "It’s the guys who were chasing me that you want-”

  “Put your hands out the window or we will fire!”

  Abe could tell that they weren’t exactly in a mood to discuss it with him at this point, and he decided it would be wise to put his hands out the window.

  “I don’t have any weapons,” he told them.

  “Driver, open your door from the outside. Keep your hands in view. Take three steps away from the car.”

  Abe obeyed, laughing a little at their instructions. How ridiculous that they were treating him as the criminal, when he was being chased by people with guns. People who wanted to kill him. He was so relieved to have the police show up, to know that he was safe and that the kids would now be safe, that he didn’t think of anything else. Didn’t worry about how the police saw him, about what was going to happen next.

  “Lay face-down and lace your hands behind your head!”

  Abe did as he was told. Several hands grabbed him, patting him down, wrenching his hands around to handcuff him, and then yanking him to his feet. Abe smiled.

  “Am I ever glad to see you guys,” he told them.

  “Do you have any idea how fast you were going?” one of them yelled in his face.

  “I was being chased,” Abe explained.

  “You were being-”

  “There’s somebody in the trunk!” another cop yelled, hearing noises coming from it.

  “Who’s in your trunk?” the cop in his face demanded.

  “My kids. I had to protect them-”

  The cop swore viciously, and they all turned and watched as one police officer groped for the trunk release hatch inside the car, and popped it open, and then not just one, but three children were helped out of the trunk. Juneau was weak and wobbly. Crispin gave the appearance of being stronger, but promptly walked to the side of the road and threw up. One of the police officers pulled Meggie out of the trunk, fast asleep. Abe shook his head that she’d been able to go to sleep while he was racing against death.

  “Get an ambulance,” the policeman who pulled Meggie out of the trunk called out. “She’s pink, breathing is shallow.”

  “What?” Abe questioned. "Is there something wrong with her?”

  “Ever hear of carbon monoxide poisoning?” the cop in charge of Abe snarled. "What kind of a person puts his children in the trunk and goes racing down the highway?”

  “I was being chased, shot at,” Abe protested, trying to explain. "I wasn’t putting them in danger, I was trying to protect them.”

  “You were being shot at?” the man repeated sarcastically, not believing it.

  “Yes, I was. I was trying to get away, to keep my children safe.”

  “Who was shooting at you? Where are they now?”

  “You think they would stick around with all of the police? They’re gone now.”

  “And who are these people?”

  “Jewel thieves,” Abe explained. “You know the ones that pulled off the heist at the airport? It was them.”

  “Really. Why?”

  “Because they’re afraid I’m going to figure out who they are, get them arrested. They’re trying to protect themselves.”

  The cop shook his head and escorted Abe over to one of the police cars, opening the door and pushing him into the back seat with a muttered command to watch his head. Abe watched anxiously as they milled around, and searched the car and the trunk. The paramedics arrived and checked over Meggie and the other children. Meggie eventually woke up, and was wrapped in a blanket, and Juneau sat on the gurney with her, hugging her comfortingly and talking in her ear. Crispin was given oxygen, sitting on the tailgate of the ambulance with a mask over his face. They were all okay. Abe had kept them safe.

  Abe was surprised to see Agents Lovett and Cairns arrive at the scene. Lovett came over to the squad car where Abe was still sitting, handcuffed. He opened the door to talk to Abe

  “What’s going on here, Mr. VanRam?” he questioned.

  “I was just trying to keep my children safe,” Abe said. “Everyone is acting like I was putt
ing them in danger, but I was keeping them safe.”

  “Keeping them safe from what?” Lovett prodded.

  “From the jewel thieves,” Abe insisted, keeping his voice low so that he wouldn’t sound like he was raving. “They were shooting at us at the house. I had to act in an instant. So I put the kids in the trunk, where they were safe from bullets, and got out of there. They were chasing us all the way down the highway, until the police arrived and scared them off.”

  “Describe these thieves.”

  “I didn’t get a good look at their faces, just their vehicles,” Abe explained.

  “And…?”

  “One was a black sedan, that’s the one that shot at us. The other one was a red hatchback.”

  “Is that so.”

  Lovett and Cairns exchanged a look.

  “I wouldn’t expect you to believe me,” Abe said, shaking his head. "Why would you?”

  “We believe you about the red hatchback,” Lovett said wryly.

  “You do?” Abe was surprised. "Why do you believe me about the red hatchback?”

  “Because that car is one of ours. One of the cars tailing you.”

  “One of yours,” Abe repeated blankly.

  “Yes. We have to keep an eye on you, don’t we?”

  “You’ve been following me?” Abe demanded, furious.

  “That’s right.”

  “Ever since the jewel heist.”

  “Yup.”

  “I thought it was the thieves! Do you know all the trouble I’ve gone to to try to lose them?”

  “Oh yes. We’re quite familiar with your tactics,” Lovett agreed. "You haven’t been an easy guy to keep tabs on.”

  “And the black sedan? Why would they shoot at me? Why would a police tail shoot at me?”

  “The black sedan isn’t one of ours,” Lovett said, shaking his head. "That one is your imagination. No one was shooting at you.”

  “They were! Ask the kids, they heard the shots! They know!”

  “Just stay calm, Mr. VanRam. You’ve had quite the adventure. It’s going to be a long day.”

  “I’m not going on another 5150,” Abe said bitterly.

  “No, this time I think you’ll just spend some time behind bars. Maybe that will convince you to stop messing around with us. I can’t believe you would put your own children in danger like that.”

  “I didn’t put my children in danger,” Abe repeated hotly. “I was protecting them. Protecting them from criminals with guns! People shooting at me!”

  “Well, next time why don’t you leave them at home and lead the thieves away from your house, huh?” Lovett suggested. “And give me a call, why don’t you? If you really thought that you were being stalked by criminals, wouldn’t you want to get help?”

  “Nobody will believe me,” Abe pointed out.

  Lovett shook his head.

  “You stay put here,” he ordered, quite unnecessarily.

  Abe sat there, watching the police and the agents and the children and the paramedics, and trying to figure out how he was going to get out of this one. As much as he didn’t want to go back to the hospital, he didn’t exactly want to go to jail, either. Wasn’t there some way that he could convince everyone that he was telling the truth? Why didn’t the children tell them that there had been shots fired? Explain that he had just been trying to get away from the stalkers.

  Abe saw Theo’s delivery truck go by, slowing down to see what was going on. He frowned. They knew they couldn’t send the black sedan back around to see what was going on, but they could send Theo by to give them a report. He knew that Theo was involved in it all. Who else was better placed to keep an eye on the family and report back to the thieves?

  Ursula arrived, and she went immediately to the children, hugging and kissing them and talking to them briefly. Her face was pale, and she looked around, trying to understand what had just happened. At least she would believe the children, even if the police and agents didn’t. Ursula talked to Lovett and the police and eventually came over to where Abe was sitting in the police car.

  “Are you okay?” she questioned flatly.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Are the kids all okay?”

  “They’ll be fine.”

  Ursula just stood there, looking down at him. Abe waited for the screaming to start. Waited for the volcano to blow and the invectives to rain down on him. But Ursula was perfectly calm. Perfectly in control. It was scary.

  “This can’t go on, Abe. When they let you go, don’t come home.” She shook her head. “If you want to let me know where you are staying, I will have your stuff brought to you. But don’t come to the house. I’m going to get a restraining order, and believe me, it doesn’t matter what judge I get, they’ll grant it. You stay away from the house. You stay away from the school. No contact with the children unless I approve it and I’m there to supervise. Do you understand?”

  Abe shook his head, floored.

  “Well,” Ursula sighed, “maybe the cops can explain it to you.” She bent over and brushed his forehead with a kiss. “I’m sorry, Abe. This is good-bye.”